Location: Victorian campus of Federation University Australia at Ballarat

Conditions of Scholarship: Scholarships are for a period of three years. Application is open to domestic and permanent residents only. Standard leave entitlements apply. This position and scholarship are full-time, with no possibility of being undertaken part-time during candidature. Students will be required to commit to a minimum of four days per week on campus and may be required to participate in occasional industry placement at key times during the term of their candidature.

How to apply: The Application for HDR Candidature Admission Form is available on theFedUni HDR Apply page. All applicants should check their eligibility prior to applying. Prospective candidates should indicate on the HDR Candidature Application for Admission Form that they are applying for the Grains Research & Development Corporation/Cerdi PhD Scholarship. Applications may be submitted via mail, in person, or email to research.degrees@federation.edu.au

Closing date:extended

Scholarship project description: Grains growers and advisors have been innovators in Australian agriculture through the adoption of technologies such as precision agriculture since the 1990’s. While the adoption of technologies by the grains industry has been steady since, there are now new opportunities in this era of ‘Big Data’ to exploit and use this data with new decision support tools to improve net farm gate returns. Spatial and information digital platforms are central enabling technologies to support users to access and leverage valuable legacy and contemporary data to discover and develop new findings. Ultimately the goal of these platforms is to support innovation, connect users with domain and industry experts and enable greater adoption of latest R, D & E leading to practice change. By making trial research information accessible online, grains industry partners can benefit by understanding trial methodologies implemented, compare trials and results and avoiding potential duplication and avoid unnecessary expenditure on trials that could be used more effectively to improve grains research.This project will explore how federating Australian grains trials data can lead to new discoveries that support the ideals of digital agriculture and enduring profitability for growers.